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Wednesday, 5 August 2015

King Kwong reviewed in Vancouver Sun

Good news! My biography of Larry Kwong, King Kwong, was reviewed in the Vancouver Sun today by Stephen Hume! As he says in his August 5 column:

B.C. writer and self-described lifelong hockey fan Paula Johanson
reminds us of the ephemeral nature of sports history in King Kwong, her
marvellous little biography of the whirlwind on skates who blew out of
the dusty interior 75 years ago.

...Just as many Canadian kids before and since, Larry discovered the
pleasures of playing shinny with a frozen horse apple. One of the most
charming hockey photos of the many Johanson unearthed for her book is
one of Larry, his sister Betty and a couple of neighbour kids playing
shinny outside the Vernon family store.Like many another hockey
kid, he wheedled skates out of his mom with a promise that when he was a
real hockey player, he’d buy her a house.

It's important to note that most of the photos which Stephen Hume calls charming were "unearthed" by Chad Soon, many of which came from the private photo albums of Larry Kwong. That particular charming hockey photo was contributed by Larry Kwong's grown daughter from her own family album.

Hume goes on to say:

On March 13, 1948, he was called up by the Rangers for a game against
Montreal Canadiens. They only played him for one shift — less than a
minute — but the China Clipper had ended the era of whites-only hockey
in the NHL.Johanson’s book with Five Rivers Publishing is aimed
at young adults but I doubt there’s a hockey fan who will be put off any
more than Larry Kwong was by his nickname as he dashed up the ice to
score the winning goal for the Smoke Eaters in that long-forgotten B.C.
Championship of 1946.